Whom Should the Flyers Trade?

The options: Jeff Carter, Danny Briere, Braydon Coburn, Kimmo Timonen, or Simon Gagne to name a few. What I believe the Flyers need is two scorers to spread the wealth across three lines.

Briere would be a player to get traded because he always seems to be on the ice during the five-on-five goals, while his numbers don’t justify his $6.5 million salary. The problems with Briere are twofold: First, there is a no trade clause in his contract so he would be required to waive that. Second, nobody is willing to take his large salary, not even Montreal.

Coburn—this year has not been a very good year for him—seems to be on a negative slide in his career. This slide means his value has been reduced and since his cap hit is $1.2 million we cannot expect to get much in return, except for maybe a second round pick, a back-up goalie, or a prospect. I consider Coburn a throw-in for any trades because of salary reasons.

Kimmo Timonen’s name always ends up on the trade rumors since he is a highly paid player that is not producing as well as the Flyers have expected. The problem with this is since his salary is very high and the number of years is large, the prospect of trading this player is not very good.

The only team that I have heard that would be interested is the Dallas Stars since they don’t have a power play quarterback. In looking at their roster I don’t see any player that we need except for Turco, so I want to dismiss Kimmo from being traded.

Jeff Carter, to me, is the best option for a trade. His value is very high since last year he scored the third most goals (46) and he is still young at 25 years old. Carter still has one of the best wrist shots in the league. He currently sits 50th in goal scoring.

Options for Jeff Carter Trades

Tampa Bay, Vincent Lecavalier

This is a good option for both teams since neither player is performing very well this year. It has been rumored forever that Lecavalier wants out of Tampa. If this is true the Flyers would truly make this trade.

Lecavalier for Carter would not disrupt either team very much, but as said many times, “a change of scenery would help both players.” Lecavalier on the Flyers would give the Flyers a true French Connection with Briere and Gagne. Giroux is from Ontario, so he is not considered a true Frenchman. Lecavalier, however, is more expensive than Carter, so the Flyers would have to throw in either Coburn, or say Powe, Nodl, or Asham to justify the cap space.

Carolina

Eric Staal. I’m not sure if Carolina would part with their franchise player, but if they are willing to do it, the Flyers might have to throw in Coburn and a second round pick. Staal brings a lot of intangibles that Carter doesn’t. He is a far better faceoff man, he has played both the wing and center, all while Carter has played center his whole career. One plus for the Flyers is that he has experience with Laviolette during the Stanley Cup run with Carolina, so he would become a poster child for Laviolette’s system.

Earlier this week, Kovalchuk contract talks hit a snag. This speculates many trade rumors and if the Flyers have any interest in Kovalchuk they must pony up quite a bit for the sniper. According to other sources the Thrashers will want Carter, Giroux, and a pick. This is too much, but I think they could offer Carter and Matt Carle for Kovalchuk and this would be sufficient.

Before you say that is too much, we must look at the salary cap. Carter and Carle equal approximately $8 million in cap space, while Kovalchuk is $7.8 million in current salary; this becomes a wash. The other problem is next year since Kovalchuk requires $9-10 million in salary. I’m not sure if this deal makes sense.

Columbus

The Flyers have done a couple of deals with them before. I think trading Carter would give us two quality prospects from Columbus.

I would like to see the return to be Voracek and Brassard. These two players are very young and have good potential. Voracek was in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with Giroux and they were the two top scorers there. Voracek is a wonderful playmaker and has some grit. I think Brassard is more equivalent to a Toews or a Sam Gagner.

If this deal were available, I would make it.

Anaheim

I would like to trade Carter for Ryan but that isn’t going to happen and the only other player that I would be interested in is Ryan Whitney or James Wisniewski. I don’t think we have what the Ducks want in return; neither would I be inclined to trade Carter for a defenseman.

Edmonton and Minnesota

I don’t think they are a viable trade partner since they don’t seem to have any “Flyers” that we need. Both teams have too many soft players.

So in conclusion I would rather get either a Lecavalier or a Staal for Carter and Coburn, I believe these trades would benefit the Flyers the greatest, while I do like the Columbus trade even though it might take one more year for those players to mature.